On my super short trip to Burgundy in France I had the possibility to go to Chateau de la Tour in Clos de Vougeot. It’s situated in the upper slopes of the Clos and surrounded by endless vineyards. The Chateau is a beauty itself.
In this occasion I have known also Francois Labet, the owner of the Chateau and one of the best wines in Burgundy. He is a very nice person, very French and I enjoyed his company a lot. He explained the wine producing, about the chateau and the wine tastings, all in a perfect English.
The Chateau was built in the late 19th century by a merchant and through marriage the Labet family became owners. Before that the lands belonged to the church. Since the 12th century the walled vineyards was the flagship of the Cistercians. The Cistercians manor is still there just a few hundred meters from the Chateau.
6 hectors are giving one of the best wines of France and for sure of Burgundy. It is the largest single Grand Cru vineyard in the Cote de Nuits designation. Francois Labet is one of the most influential winemakers of the region and is producing the wine of Chateau de la Tour and Domaine Pierre Labet.
Monsieur Labet has a prized wine, even in Italy he won the Oscar of Wines. His really super delicious red is as well completely organic using only wild yeast. I could have a look into production as well which was super interesting and not at all complicated as maybe one could think.
The grapes are picked by hand. Often they let only one or two clusters on the grape vine in order that they get all the sun, sweetness and nutrition and don’t have to divide between many clusters. I had a few grapes to taste and I can say they are definitely special, incredibly sweet and fruity. Maybe I never had such nice grapes before.
They are then selected and controlled and going into big containers to be transferred into a cold room in the chateau. Here they go into slowly into even bigger containers. The juice becomes squeezed by the only weight of the grapes, the the juice itself gets transferred again on the grapes to give even more pressure and take all the goodness out. I don’t remember what they do with the remaining grape marc but normally it is used as fertilizer, one of the best you can put in your garden!
Before leaving this place the fermentation is in open-topped fermenters. The yeast is below 25hl/ha and indigenous and the wine is without fining and filtration.
From this cool place the juice gets transferred into the big old barrels in the cellar.
Cold again the wine vault is an ancient place with huge wine barrels, all perfectly lined. Here the wine has to age for a year.
The two wines are Classique and Vieilles Vignes – the really old ones with 80 to 100 years.
The taste is unique, full, fruity, dense and deep.
My friend, a wine connoisseur and importer for the best wines worldwide for Asia, of course had a wine tasting. And I could try as well. Wonderful wine, really enjoyed it and convinced me that red wine can be really nice and tasty. I normally drink white wine, fruity and light, because I don’t appreciate the after-taste of many red wines. This had no. And has a fruity, light and the same fully, deep taste.
I had a wonderful afternoon in the sun of Burgundy at Chateau de la Tour with some really nice French winemakers. I learnt so much this day and I am so thankful to my friend who took me out to live this special moment for me. For me it was the most perfect introduction to Burgundy, to France, to French people and to the wine world. I have never been to France before and I am surprised how friendly, how open French are. I am already looking forward to my next stay in this beautiful country I hope I will be back soon.
Chateau de la Tour, Vougeot, Burgundy/France
For further information:
Chateau de la Tour website
